Mature Content Warning: A little foul language and innuendo.

Author's Note: This is a short, and somewhat odd little chapter showing more of Scott and Rhea getting to know each other. We shall return to combat and training soon, and then we'll start doing a few quests of interest. :)

Chapter 8: Arrow Protection is Required

The groan of effort, the strain of muscles as they unleashed a powerful thrust, and the sweet release of completion; these were things that a girl like Rhea desired most in this world. The elf maiden continually worked her body with relentless, feverish effort. A soft sheen of sweat poured from her as she writhed, whirled, and moved in the graceful ancient rhythm that her people were known for throughout the world.

She finished with a loud, triumphant, cry then began to pant heavily. She was completely spent from her intense exertions.

Scott clapped his hands happily then called out, “Wow, that was great! Such form and precision...”

Rhea’s face, still flush from her hard training, turned into an even brighter shade of red after the compliment. She sheathed her sword. “Thanks, I train every morning when the sun rises and every evening before it sets.”

“Really? Does it do anything for your stats?”

She eyed him critically. “Not everything is about stats, you know.”

He looked at her curiously and she continued, “Stats only reinforce what you can do. Someone who trains daily will always be better than someone who relies solely on their stats, unless there is a major level gap.”

Scott nodded. Training his body might be a good idea in the coming days. He would not increase his stats, but he might be able to become better able to use what he had to work with. “I see, so every little bit helps.”

“Right.” replied the girl before sauntering over to him and sitting next to him on the grass. She had become quite friendly with him in record time.

The sorcerer smiled at her and she smiled back. It was strange to meet such a friendly girl in the middle of nowhere, but it was also sort of nice. He offered her some water and she took it gladly.

“I suppose fewer humans train this extensively.” she said after taking several large sips of water.

“I’m not sure...”

Rhea leaned against him and sighed. “Elves have to train. We require a lot more experience per level to make up for our lifespans.”

Scott resisted the urge to pet her head that he suddenly felt. He did not know her like that, and to be honest he was not used to such casual closeness. He had not been with anyone since Sarah had ditched him, all those months ago. “Is the experience difference really that big?”

She looked up at him with her big green eyes; their innocence and almost incandescent nature were quite alluring. “Yes.”

“How much of a difference is it? If you don’t mind me asking?”

She bit her lip a little and looked down at the ground. She muttered something softly and Scot blinked.

He had barely heard it, but he thought he understood. “Ten times as much?”

“Yes... what a normal human adventurer could gain in a year would take me ten years to achieve.”

“Nah.” said Scott.

“You doubt my word?” She looked at Scott critically.

He smirked at her. “No, but you won’t take ten years to do it.”

She sat up and pouted at him. It was both adorably and slightly terrifying for some reason. “Are you trying to make fun of me?”

“No, not at all. I just don’t think it will take ten years for us to reach that point.”

Rhea started to say something then stopped. His choice of words had been interesting. “Us?”

“Yes, us. We’re comrades now aren’t we?” asked Scott.

The heated anger fled from her then and she sighed. “Yes, we have chosen to become... comrades. That doesn’t change the nature of my race, however. We’ll have to spend a lot of time hunting together to keep me moving at a decent level pace.”

Scott bumped her with his shoulder and she leaned to the side. “Already growing tired of my company?”

She bumped him back then said, “Not yet, you silly human.”

They were quiet for a moment, but Rhea decided to break the silence by asking another question. “If you don’t mind saying, how long did it take you to reach level seven?”

Scott shrugged. “A little over a week, I think.”

She leaned away from him then openly stared at the man. “A week! That’s, how is that even possible?”

“Well, I was level five after around a week. I somehow ended up pissing off the grass rats enough that the gods summoned an overlord on their behalf. I killed the overlord.”

Rhea’s jaw fell open. It was a most undignified sight, but she did not care. He had to be lying, but the way he had said it was so casual that she could almost believe it.

Scott raised his gauntlets. “An armorer in Victory Stations turned the fang I collected into these gauntlets by combining them with my steel claw gauntlets.”

The elf looked the item over carefully then looked back up at Scott’s face. “That... you really killed an overlord? You said that you were not able to find an adventuring party...”

“Yeah, it happened by accident and I was alone. It’s not really that big a deal.”

“Not a big deal?! Overlords are powerful creatures! Even low-level ones can kill entire parties of experienced adventurers! How could you have killed it alone?”

Scott shook his head. “Pure luck mostly. I could barely damage it. I nearly died. However, I was able to stun it with my flash spell just long enough to fire a burn spell straight down its throat. The explosion was a critical hit, so I fired off a few more and then beat it to death.”

“I see.” Rhea placed one of her delicate fingers to her chin then acquired a thoughtful expression.

The elf girl gave Scott a look then rubbed her chin again. “Hmmm...”

“What are you plotting?” asked Scott.

She shared a wide smile. “It took me a month to do what you claimed to have done in a week. That’s actually quite fast for my people. It seems that we are both capable people.”

“Seems so, though I have never faced anything stronger than that giant black grass rat.”

“Still, better than anything that I have faced... maybe we should go fight those slimes soon.”

“I’d love that, but I still have that mana issue. I need to train my spells.”

Rhea shook her head. “We should be fine. I can make health and mana potions, and use my spells to enchant our weapons.”

“You can make mana potions?” Scott could not believe it.

“Yes, is that so strange?”

“What kind of class do you have, or did you use lore rings?” Scott was honestly curious. He had assumed that she was some sort of spell-sword. She would use magic and sword-skills. Potion making was alchemical in nature.

“Ah, you don’t know about elves! I had forgotten. We have a natural knowledge of monster, mineral, and plant lore. We automatically have the ability to develop natural remedies, though only our shamans and alchemists develop the upper-tier abilities.”

“I see, so it’s a racial ability?”

“Yes, just as our classes are inherited for the most part.”

Scott asked her about that bit of trivia and she happily explained the nature of elves. They all had the basic capacity to begin life as Shamans, Arcane Archers, or Arcane Blades. Every elf could use at least a little magic, and had innate casting abilities for different powers based on their racial sub-type. High elves tended to be arcane blades or shamans. Forest elves were known to be archers more than front-line fighters. The various sub-species of elves had their own specific abilities as well, and most had unique class options outside of the standard classes.

“I bet that elves have pretty high stats and strong skills for their level, though.” Scott did not see the need to take longer to gain a level to be a bad thing.

“Sometimes... An elf of the same level as a human would prove to be a tough opponent for the human, if they focused on training their abilities.”

The pitiably human sorcerer did not doubt that at all. If he had to spend ten times as long hunting those grass rats, he would have farmed ability points by the thousand! Sure, the cost to raise stats would have risen to an obscene amount by now, but he would still have the stats from previous upgrades.

“Rhea, do you mind if I ask you something personal?”

She made a little strangling noise then looked down at her hands. “You can ask...”

Scott tried not to notice the almost obscene level of cuteness she was radiating at the moment. Instead, he asked his question. “Why exactly aren’t you in an adventuring group with other elves?”

That question had plagued him since the moment she had mentioned her proposal to join together and form a party. If elves have so much trouble gaining levels compared to other races, why was she seeking to journey with him?

“That... Well...” she started to fidget a little. From her demeanor it became obvious that she was uncomfortable answering the question.

“It’s alright, you don’t have to answer. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No, it’s nothing bad. I just... Well, I’m a girl. You know that, right?” She looked at him with a curious expression. It was as though she doubted that he did know that obvious fact.

“Uh, yeah. That’s not exactly something I would fail to notice.”

Her cheeks took on a rosy color and she smiled gently. “I’m just entering my second century of life. Many would consider me still to be little more than a child.”

She would be seen as a two hundred year old child? Scott wondered if elves aged at one-tenth the rate of humans since that was how much experience they required. What would a few decades as a toddler be like? The idea of being in high school for forty years also bothered him greatly.

Rhea looked him in the eye suddenly then took a deep breath. “I am not a child! This journey proves that and... And...”

“And?”

She shook her head, suddenly. “Well, Uhm... I am not a child, alright? I just... well... This is the traditional time in a young elf’s life where she goes out and experiences the world...”

Scott wanted to ask questions about that, but he was afraid that he might upset her. Instead, he sat quietly and simply listened as she went into detail about the customs of her people. It wasn’t until she said something a bit unusual that he could not hold back.

“Elven mating season?” He stared at her like she had grown a second head. Had he heard that right?

She threw her hands up and waved them around spastically. “You don’t need to say it so loud!”

Rhea began to hyperventilate a little, but managed to calm down after a few rapid breaths. Quietly she leaned in and said, “Yes! Every four years after we reach adulthood, an elven maiden will undergo the velvet madness...”

“Velvet madness?” asked Scott in surprise, and a little too loudly for Rhea’s liking.

“Quiet!” She smacked him on the arm in a desperate attempt to silence the man. How could he speak such a vulgar thing so loudly? The shame of it!

“I’m sorry, I just don’t know much about your people and I’m interested.” said Scott sincerely.

“It’s ok, I guess. I... don’t mind if it’s you.” She bit her lip gently then looked away.

Scott could not take it anymore. She had been quite friendly with him, a bit too friendly. He did not want to be mean or rude, but he wanted to know the truth. “Why?

“Why?” she asked curiously.

“Yes, why? Why do you not mind if it’s me?”

She clenched her hands into fists then whispered something that Scott did not manage to make out. When he mentioned that he had not understood her she took a deep breath then said, “I... prayed for you...”

“You prayed for me?” What exactly did she mean by that?

Rhea nodded slowly then wrapped her arms around herself. “Yes. For longer than you might know... I have prayed for... for someone to love and cherish. That was the real reason that I was at the shrine. I could finally have that prayer answered.”

That admission made Scott feel like garbage. He could not know if it was true, but it certainly explained her overly friendly demeanor and cute little attempts at trying to get to know him. He didn’t understand it, though. “That’s... Rhea, why would you need to pray for that? You’re such a sweet girl... I’m surprised that you don’t have a line of admirers waiting for you.”

She winced visibly then shook her head. “I... don’t want to talk about that. Is that, OK?”

Scott could not resist attempting to give her some sort of comfort. He placed his hand on her shoulder. Rhea jumped a little in response after he did so, but then she leaned her cheek against his hand and started to rub her face against him.

What was he going to do with this girl? She seemed so innocent and pure that it made him feel like a dirty asshole just looking at her. Yet, she honestly thought that he was the answer to her cherished prayer for someone to love. What kind of shitty goddess answered such a sweet girl’s prayer, with well... him?

“You’re a really nice guy.” Rhea said suddenly.

How would she even know? She assumed a great deal about him based on the answer to a prayer. “Not nice enough to be the answer to your prayer.”

She turned to look at him, her eyes shimmering softly. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing bad, I just think that you can do better than me.” He did not have much belief in his ability to properly handle relationships, especially one where he was supposed to be the answer to a sweet girl’s prayer. He couldn’t even hold the interest of a stripper that he had dated for three years.

Rhea glared at him then launched herself toward Scott with all the fury that an enraged elven battle maiden could muster. He was quickly knocked to the ground, with her atop him. She stared down at him with heaving bosom, unspent tears in her eyes. “I hate it when people lie to me.”

Scott was uncertain how to even respond to this sudden shift in her demeanor. All he could come up with was, “Do you really think that you can’t do better than me?”

She slapped him across the face then growled at him. “Don’t say stupid things! I’ve only known you a short time and you have already proven to be very kind and considerate!”

His eyebrows pressed together in confusion. “I have?”

The elf sighed softly. “You honestly do not know your own worth, do you?”

“No.” he responded softly. What was he really worth, anyway? No one had ever really given much of a damn about him, besides his parents and possibly his brother. Most of his life had been a carnival sideshow starring people who had lined up to take a steaming crap all over his dreams.

The hateful gaze softened and the innocent eyes returned once more. She ran her gloved fingers gently along his cheek. "Is it ok... If I help you find out?”

He could not bear the look of honest concern and innocence that she turned toward him. He looked away and closed his eyes. “You can if you like... But, what happens if we find out and it doesn’t amount to much?”

She gently grasped his chin and pulled his face back toward her. Rhea smiled at him, beatifically, more like an angel, an image of the divine, than an elf. “As if such a thing could possibly be true.”

Geeze, this girl... Scott was trapped. Her eyes were like the pseudo-incandescent beams of an oncoming truck and he was but a mere opossum staring down the oncoming reality of inescapable fate. “If, you keep looking at me like that... I will need better knee guards.”

“Hmm, what do you mean?” She tilted her head to the side and looked down at him with a smile far too adorable for his own good.

“Nothing, I would just need better arrow protection for my knees...”

Her eyebrows pressed together and her mouth puckered cutely. “You are saying weird things again...”

Scott sighed softly. “No one gets me.”

She squinted at him, wondering exactly what he was talking about. What was all this business about arrows and knees, anyway?